Ascension
by OpalescentStorm
Summary: She wasn't born with perfect aim, you know. But she'll get there any way she can; don't you worry. Collection of Tenten oneshots for Fanfic100.
1. They Won't Bother with an Autopsy

AN: This is gonna be a series of one-shots written for Fanfic 100. The character is Tenten, who is one of my favorite characters. This first one seems like a good way to start it out.

**NUMBER 30: death**

The first time she kills a fellow human being, it is an accident. She's just a Genin, and things aren't supposed to go badly. Team Gai is sent to escort a prestigious lady back to her home in Suna. Normally it's a job for Chunin ninja, but Hokage-sama has found herself short of ninja. Besides, the lady demands the quickest escort possible, and Team Gai is easily the fastest team of all the Genin and most of the Chunin.

Taking the lady, an educated woman who knows much and whines more, is a daunting task, and they find their patience with her and each other running out quickly. To make things worse, Tenten is chastising both of her teammates, Neji is mocking Lee, Lee is challenging Neji, and Gai's sporadic speeches are giving everyone headaches. To top it all off, the lady is complaining excessively about her bunions, and she demands to be carried. The crisis is averted when Lee declares himself more than up to the challenge. He becomes a human vehicle.

Lee and Gai are immersed in their happiness, youthfulness, and loud yelling, and Neji, Tenten, and the lady are all nursing headaches, wondering if those damn fools will just shut up already. No one notices the sneaking figures behind them. Before they know what has happened, Lee has been rendered immobile by a jutsu, and the lady has been kidnaped by a man.

They only stop for a moment in order for Gai to pick Lee up and carry him as they chase down the kidnappers. Gai turns serious and faces his two conscious students. He warns them that there are probably more. He tells them that they are not to kill under any circumstances. Actually, they aren't to even get involved. They are to conceal themselves, for he will be fine by himself, _do you understand_!

Tenten and Neji, keeping a few paces back, follow Gai cautiously. They don't show it, but they're concerned for their obnoxious teammate and their loud sensei, both of whom they barely know. They're a new team, and they don't mesh together well yet, but they still find the first fingers of a bond beginning to grip them.

Tenten watches through wide eyes as Gai takes on six other ninja. They are quick, and they are strong, but he is quicker, and he is stronger, and he possesses three times their combined endurance. Gai is doing well, and she breathes a sigh of relief. Maybe he will be fine, after all. Then she sees a man sneak up behind him, and he's too preoccupied with the other five to notice.

A kunai flashes in the sunlight, nearly blinding Tenten, but Gai has his back turned. Neji is stock still next to her, seeming for all the world like he doesn't know what to do. Before she knows what's happening, she's thrown a kunai at the sneaking ninja. It transfixes him right in the middle of the chest, and he goes down without a word.

She doesn't know what to do. Time speeds up as Gai-sensei immobilizes the rest of the ninja, killing three and knocking two unconscious. Time keeps going and Gai-sensei is walking toward her, and Lee is waking up, and the lady is safe, but she just can't take her eyes off of the man. He is dead. Dead. Dead. And that is her kunai in his chest.

Why is her kunai in his chest?


	2. Anchors Aweigh

AN: Hello! It's so nice to get reviews, even only the two I have so far. I'm really grateful that you guys read my stories. This one is more of a drabble, and it's a little bit of a reflection of Tenten's past, something I know a lot of people wonder about. Sorry you've had to wait so long for an update!

**NUMBER 1: beginnings**

She's not like the rest of them. Her past, unlike theirs, is unimportant. She's not Neji, who remembers the joy and love of having a father and the depression and anger of having his father taken from him. She's not Naruto, who remembers hate and anger and loathing, all directed at him, a boy who did nothing to deserve the treatment. She's not Sasuke, who remembers a massacre and blood. She's not Sakura, who remembers sobbing in the town square and praying that the bullies may stay away for once.

It's not that Tenten doesn't have a past. It's just that hers never mattered much. Whatever has happened to her, she has treated it as a matter unimportant to her. She does not dwell in the past, nor does she run from it, but she accepts it. Just as soon, though, she releases it, letting it float further and further behind her.

And maybe that helps her, after all. Sure, she's not pushed on by her past, a sad thing which compels her to climb even higher. There's nothing to whisper in her ear "this is what you should have been. You're going to need to work harder if you want to beat it." There's nothing to scream at her to get stronger because she's going to have revenge some day.

Yet there are upsides to her past or the lack thereof. She can step back and view disaster with a calm eye, and she hits her mark all the time, every time, because her vision is never clouded by anger or the old, dead memories that haunt others. Never will she claim that her past took away her ability to love, nor will she ever say that any of her actions were caused by anything other than her own will.

The greatest advantage is not one most people see at first, though. However, the closer you look, the more you can realize it. After all, one's past can anchor them to the ground, to this earth. Tenten doesn't have this anchor, has freed herself from it long ago.

And she can fly higher than anyone else.


	3. Boom, There Goes the Dynamite

AN: I can't help but think that this is one of my best one-shots ever. (And five times longer than my last one, but oh well). I really like it. It's full of explosions, craters, and Team Gai love. Because who can resist Team Gai?

**NUMBER 65: passing**

It's really something that's hard to ignore. Tsunade-sama announces to the village that she has decided to take Sakura Haruno under her wing and lend her assistance and instruction in becoming a better kunoichi and medic. Tenten smiles at Sakura, whom she barely knows, as she passes her in the street, and congratulates her.

Then Tenten goes to her training grounds and unleashes her fury on the trees and the poor woodland creatures. She has just learned the summoning of bombs, and needless to say, in the fight of one forest against the anger of Tenten, the kunoichi will win every time. A slew of kunai leave her hand and thud mercilessly into a tree several meters away, and the exploding tags attached to the ends detonate.

Tenten takes a moment to shield her face from the flying debris before she flips twice and summons a spiked bomb from her scroll. It attaches to a tree a good hundred meters away, and she flips backwards quickly and fluidly before the thing explodes with a boom that all of Konoha has probably heard. She grimaces; the rest of her team will hear this, and soon they will find her.

However, her grimace is replaced by a triumphant grin as she sees the crater on the ground. No, Neji's Kaiten has nothing on her bombs, nothing. Just like Sakura has nothing on her, she thinks bitterly as she releases another onslaught of weapons, these ones two twin maces with exploding tags set all over them. She makes sure to throw them as far away as she can because each exploding tag sets off the next until there have been ten explosions.

"Chakra control!" she scoffs, eying the destruction made by her maces. Next was a large hand grenade, which throws only after springing into the air. She only wants to endanger the land, not her own life. Her ears are met with a satisfying explosion a few moments later, and she glares at the destroyed land as if it has caused her anger. "Natural talent!" she mimics bitterly.

The windmill shuriken she grasps next has no explosive power. Tenten quickly fixes that problem by slapping several exploding tags on it and sending it on it's merry way. It slices off branches from four remaining trees before embedding itself in the trunk of the fifth. Tenten executes a few backhand springs before the tag explodes and debris and smoke fly around her.

"It's not like I wouldn't work to be better than her, anyway!" She springs and twists in the air, and she throws two more grenades in the direction of the majority of the destroyed land. With a toss of her head, she surveys the damage of the land in front of here. Normally she would wish not to bait the Hokage's infamous temper, but now is an exception. No, now she really wants the Fifth to see her handiwork.

Before she can blow anything else up, she is tackled by two flying green blurs that take her down. As much as she wishes to harm them, she has two kunai in her hands and she couldn't live with herself if she stabbed either of the two idiots. She doesn't even have time to yell in frustration before she is on her stomach in the dirt, Lee sitting on her back and holding her wrists in one hand. The position is uncomfortable, but she supposes maybe she deserves it. Oh, she knows she's going to get an earful now.

"I know you were immersed in your quest for even more strength, my dear Tenten, but Lee tells me you were upsetting the squirrels! Besides, the civilians were beginning to think that we are being attacked by some other village. Tsunade-sama was convinced we were in danger, and she had assembled a few squads of Jonin, but we three knew better!" her sensei exclaims happily. Tenten cranes her neck to see him sitting cross-legged a meter or so away from her, and behind him Neji stands, the ghost of a smirk playing along the corners of his lips.

"Is there any chance that this has anything to do with Sakura-chan being appointed as Tsunade-sama's protege?" Gai asks, his voice not so loud anymore. He's smiling at her kindly, and she can not bring herself to look at him. Instead, she looks over at the largest crater, the one caused by the spiked bomb.

"Maybe," she mumbles to her sensei. In the back of her mind, she makes a mental note to later measure the crater.

"Of course that makes sense," Lee sings out exuberantly. "I don't know anyone who wouldn't want to be like Sakura-san!" he enthuses. Tenten growls and brings her heel up quickly and kicks him in the side. He whines and loosens his grip just enough for her to twist out of his grip and roll over herself and her teammate over so she's sitting casually on his stomach.

Gai frowns at Lee for perhaps the first time in all of history, and Lee makes some apologetic exclamation involving pinky push-ups, whatever the hell those are. Then Gai turns his attention back to Tenten. "Did you have a desire to become a medical ninja? You should have told me earlier," he tells her, but he smiles knowingly. For an idiot, he's smart, Tenten decides.

"Well, not really, but..." Tenten begins, but she trails off lamely. Why was she so angry anyway? Had she ever even wanted to be taught by the great Tsunade-sama? Sure, the woman is her idol, but her talents do not lie within the spectrum of things that she wants to learn. She doesn't want to become a medic or a close-range fighter!

"Are you not happy with me?" he asks her, the knowing smile still on his face. "Am I not a good sensei for you? Would you prefer someone else to teach you?" he pries gently, watching carefully for her reaction.

"Not at all!" she exclaims heatedly. She feels guilty when she remembers the times when she would have done anything to be rid of Gai-sensei, but those days were gone and dead. She has learned to appreciate her sensei and her teammates, and there's really nowhere she would rather be. "I'm happy with you as my sensei!"

"I'm glad you are. Now, tell me, Tenten, why in the world would you be upset about Sakura-chan becoming Tsunade-sama's apprentice? Surely it is not a matter of you feeling inferior to Sakura-chan," he says, and she stiffens and looks away. He has hit home. "We will always need medics, and I know Sakura-chan is an intelligent kunoichi who has excellent chakra control and a natural talent for medicine. However, I also know one kunoichi who will be the terror of any army. They will fear her. After all, at so young age, she can already lay waste to an entire woodland! Think of how amazing she will be when she's older!"

Tenten beams up at her sensei, her face practically glowing with happiness. He reaches over and ruffles her hair affectionately, just like a father would. Then he stands and offers a hand to Tenten. "Now allow me to assist you up. My beautiful student Lee looks rather uncomfortable there," he says, striking a pose before pulling Tenten to her feet.

"Sorry, sensei," she mumbles, blushing a little bit. "I suppose it was just a passing fancy, after all." Gai smiles and grins at her as Lee jogs off to fulfil his earlier promise.

"A '_passing_ fancy'?" Neji questions derisively as he smirks and views the destruction all around him. Tenten merely smiles at him sweetly.

"Would you like to train now?" she asks him. "I still have plenty of explosive tags left in my arsenal, and I haven't used anywhere near even half of my spiked bombs or grenades," she tells him sweetly. He pales almost unnoticeably, but Tenten notices. And, judging by Gai-sensei's booming laughter, he does too.


	4. Holding out for a Hero

"Frank, do you know what a hero is? Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, it's a person that's tired enough and cold enough and hungry enough not to give a damn. I don't give a damn**."**

-Hawkeye Pierce of M*A*S*H*

M*A*S*H is one of my all-time favorite shows, and I really recommend it to almost everyone. But I'm not here to advertize for an old TV show. Keep that quote in mind as you read this, please, and thank you for reading. I'm 1/25th of the way through the 100 prompts!

**NUMBER 86: choices**

It's late at night, and the teenaged (with the exception of their elder but still as youthful sensei) Team Gai are on their third day of a spying mission. They normally wouldn't be assigned to this type of mission, but Gai decides it's time to expand their horizons, and how can the two Chunin and one Jonin resist a chance for improvement of skills not yet honed? Tsunade warns them that it will be unpleasant. Tenten grins and literally waves her warnings away as Neji smirks, and the background music is Lee's proclamation that they will excel in the task given to them.

In the current moment, the cozy remembrance of that evening seems decades away and decaying, drowning in the thick pelting rain, torn apart by piercing and clawing cold, and tumbled by the seizing and churning of their stomachs as they attempt to sustain the four of them on one of the three soldier pills they have left. Neji is unfazed but irritated, and if his fingernails were longer, he'd be clawing his way through the calloused but pale palms of his hands. Tenten attempts to polish her weapon, but her grimy and sodden shirt only smears dirt along the flat edge the kunai she's holding. Lee and Gai are oddly silent, but perhaps that's a blessing because the mission requires secrecy and only watching.

They know where the scroll is hidden. The forbidden scroll, the one that could kill many people in a single swoop, they have found. Just the other day, they (or rather, Neji) watched as the man tucked it into a cupboard in the house they were camped out nearby. Tenten has insisted that she could (possibly) diffuse the bombs and booby traps and alarms guarding the object, but Gai forbade it and called for one of Konoha's bomb and traps squads. If they're all worried about Tenten ending up in thousands of scattered pieces like cherry blossoms on the grass in spring, no one mentions it.

Lee has been biting his lip hard, and a trickle of blood makes its way down the mess covering his face, accosted by the many pelting raindrops that all manage to miss hitting it. This sight drives Tenten to desperation. Although normally even-keeled, there is only so much she can take until she decides that she needs to do something. She didn't become a ninja so she could fret and wait for a backup squad while she and her team sat around, biting their nails and courting a bout of pneumonia.(Unless her ears deceived her, she could already hear the rattle and rasping that were symptoms of the sickness every time her sensei breathed.) She became a ninja so she could help people and stop criminals like the guy inside.

She stands and slicks a limp, dangling lock of hair away from her brown eyes. Her teammates reach for her, but she silently dances away, and they can't call her back. Crying out would be a sure way to get their kunoichi caught. She melts into the shadows, flowing and graceful like a pool of water. Her large scroll has been discarded, but she has many smaller ones concealed around her body. They're easier to carry, and though they don't work as well in battle, they're better suited to spying and hiding.

She tries the door, expecting it to be locked, and she finds her presentiment was correct. Peering through a windowpane, she notices that the lights are off. Circling the parameters, Tenten finds that there are four windows which could provide easy enough access. Perhaps if she is careful, she can open one without alerting the owner (or is it owners?) of the house. That though lasts until she spies a thinner door hidden in an alcove, almost invisible to passerby. There is nothing to tell it is there except for the thin line in the wall.

She frowns; she knows that it will probably lead to a room with people within, but if she goes through a window to a less occupied place, her entrance will be heralded by the symphony of sounds that forcing entries through a window gives. Deciding that she had better pick her poison quickly, Tenten readies a tanto knife and clutches it harshly, greedily, against her teeth. Her teeth grate against the metal of the knife, and she applies steady pressure to the door and slides it noiselessly into the wall.

The room she enters is small, and it bears an awful stench. Regardless, she slides the door shut behind her and waits silently for a moment, plastered against the wall. Several bodies, mostly young woman but also including an old man and a child whose age she cannot determine, sit in the room, decaying before her very eyes. Her stomach rolls at the injustice, but it cannot find a scrap of food to reject in protest.

She grits her teeth on the knife once again and makes her way towards another door. Carefully, she presses her ear to it. Nothing sounds on the other side of the door, so Tenten gently slides the second door to the side. It's not silent, but it makes a soft noise, one that's almost imperceptible. Holding her breath, she slips through the barely-open door.

She enters a large room that is perhaps used for hosting guests. The furniture is minimal, only a small table set in the center and cushions around it. Blades hang on the wall, but when she approaches, Tenten notices the keen edge on the blade that means that it isn't only there for decoration. The patter of raindrops against the roof remind her that she is here to dismantle a bomb, not to gaze at the decorations. Neji told the team that it had been in a small room with many other cabinets, seemingly hiding behind a concealed door.

Carefully, she makes her way into an adjoining room and finds herself in what looks like a food pantry. However, cans and bags of nonperishable items are covered in a fine sheen of dust, only visible to Tenten when she gazes intently and closely. Several cans, though, are not covered in the gossamer layer of dust, and she moves them aside carefully.

Behind these cans is a medium-sized panel that is slightly different from the surrounding walls. Tenten carefully extracts it by shoving her tanto into a crack and prying it off. Shuriken and kunai fly out, and the tips of her hair are sliced as she ducks, causing the weaponry to become embedded into the sack of flour behind her. White powder blasts into the air in a shape reminiscent to a mushroom cloud, and she stifles a cough and a sneeze.

Wires lace into something of a spider web in the small alcove revealed when she pried off the panel. In the back, a bomb is placed on top of some sort of chakra seal. Because she knows better than to stick her hand in, Tenten uses the tanto and a extra-long senbon to retrieve the bomb. The shelves around her rattle, and she ducks, using her arms to protect her head from falling soup cans as they rain down on her.

She figures that she has only until the ninja of the house comes to dismantle the bomb, so her fingers fly and her kunai cuts swiftly. A few times, the bomb gives off sparks, and her clothes and hair are singed. Although she doesn't have the bomb dismantled, she drops it and prepares one of her arsenals when she hears the pattering of feet coming near her and the soft noise of the door to the adjoining room sliding open.

Although her stomach is clenching, she tries to calm down long enough to take a fighting stance. Every moment, every heartbeat, the footsteps make their soft noise again, each time closer and closer. They stop directly outside of the door, and Tenten holds her breath, clutching the tanto so tightly that her knuckles turn white, her left thumbtip in her mouth so she can get the blood for the summoning as soon as possible.

Nothing happens for a few horrible moments. After a few seconds of absolute, drowning silence, pin-sized holes open up in the door. White gas filters through the hole, and Tenten decides perhaps now is a good time to stop breathing and start working on the bomb before she gets blown to pieces. The gas may be a poison, she decides, and she does not want to breathe in and find out that way.

Her hands, now slippery with sweat, fumble with the bomb as she tries to dismantle it. The sparks that fly up every so often react with the gas in the air and combust, singing various parts of her body until the larger spark dies off. A fait but cheerful humming is heard on the other side of the door, and her hands slip on the bomb. There's just a little bit left.

There! The bomb makes a soft noise as it is rendered harmless, and Tenten retrieves and stores safely away the scroll that was tucked inside of it. Her heart begins to pound painfully, and the blood rushes in her ears as she fumbles for the door. Of course it doesn't open; she now knows she was a fool to close it completely. Her kunai does nothing against the material, which once seemed to be simple rice paper. If anything, the door grinds down the sharp point of her weapon.

Beginning to panic, Tenten looks around, her fingers scrambling uselessly against the latch of the door while her kunai searches for a weak spot on the door. Before her, the jars and cans are spinning, and the door appears to be looming towards her. If she hadn't been having trouble already, her oxygen-starved brain decided to add to the festivities.

The humming outside of the door is becoming gleeful, and the weapons mistress curses. Thinking quickly, she scans through her list of choices. Only one makes sense. Resigned, she quickly stacks bags of flour and rice from behind her, ignoring the screaming of her muscles and her brain and all of her body. If she can't breathe soon, she knows she'll die in there. Her thumb she bites, and she smears the blood across a couple of kanji. Two small grenades appear, and she places each near the door and plasters herself against the shelves furthest away.

She kneels and covers the back of her head and her neck with scar-woven hands and arms. Shortly, the bombs explode simultaneously. Pieces of the door slice across her arms and her back, but she is mostly unscathed as she rolls out of the place. Gripping her trusty tanto, she lunges at the apparation of a woman before her, but it changes into a can of soup at the last moment.

Swearing, Tenten turns and searches, the room spinning. She's dizzy and hyperventilating because of loss of oxygen, but she needs to concentrate on the task at hand. As she reaches out with her tanto, it connects with soft flesh and a feminine cry sounds. A kick to her arm causes her to release the knife and face a second attacker, a large male with a mean face.

Ducking under his second kick, she watches with precise eyes and catches his quickly-moving leg, yanking it and causing him to topple onto his back. On his descent, he launches a cloud of weapons toward her. She can't hope to avoid them all, but she makes sure none of them hit a vital spot. Tenten grabs her scroll and summons a pair of sai, placing them in her hands as the female she stabbed advances upon her. Tenten manages to stab her again, her sai cutting through the cartilaginous rings of the woman's trachea as she follows through with the attack.

Blood arcs through the air, obstructing her vision, and for a moment Tenten can't see her remaining assailant coming at her with a katana that's almost bigger than she is. He swings it easily, but she ducks quickly under it and goes straight toward him, causing him to step backwards several times. Now they're out of the spacious room and into a small hallway. Her opponent can't use his weapon, but Tenten feels no mercy as she ducks under a high half-swing and drives the sai into his lower abdomen.

She steps over his body neatly and makes her way, exhausted, back to her team. They are waiting for her, Gai and Lee nearly wetting themselves with fear and even Neji looking mildly concerned. The two green beasts crow her praises and call her a hero, but she nearly collapses. After all, she knows that she's just a girl who was hungry and tired and scared enough to do what needed to be done and to not care about herself.


	5. Simple and Clean

I'm going to give a brief explanation first before this story and the next ones. Prompts 11-19 are all the colors, plus black and white. I'm going to write them all in succession, and the color in the prompt will be the color Tenten's wearing in the one-shot. Also, thank you for reading this. I always love to look at my story traffic and see all the different people who read my things, so thanks for your support. Oh, and an extra-big thank you to those who review. I won't ask you to, but it makes me immensely happy.

**NUMBER 19: white**

White's too pure for what they do. When you're knocked into the dirt, brown streaks across your clothing as you stand up. When you slide through the grass, your entire backside is sullied with the most saturated of greens. And when blood splashes, after the throats have been slit, crimson arcs and bridges the gap between yourself and your opponent.

It's not like bleach is expensive. But in the meantime, the stains are like a flag. A flag to the villagers, who shake their heads and cluck their tongues and cry out in pity. A flag to one's fellow ninja, who scoff and turn away and attaint what they claim to be "fashion over function."

Kunai slice through the air in quick succession, one right after another. The man they are targeting is a strong ninja, perhaps, but he can't cope with this situation. He was taught and has somewhat perfected short-range offense but certainly not long-range defense, and he screams shrilly as one kunai after another bury themselves into his body.

The first one hits its mark perfectly: his jugular. The thrower knows that, but still another couple are discharged to land in their target's kidneys, then a fourth to hit the apex of his heart and a fifth and final kunai to his stomach. If you stop for a moment to admire the cool detachment of the thrower, how nothing disrupts her aim, you can ignore the sprays of blood and make believe she's at target practice. A straw target, though, does not bleed that much, does not cry out in pain and fall over.

With the same cool detachment, the thrower wanders over to her target and reclaims her kunai. They aren't expensive, but she has an affinity to each and every weapon she throws. Besides, she can't just let the body sit there, no matter how much she wants to leave the despicable carcass alone. She sighs, after finishing her business, and heads home, wiping her darkly bloody palms and weapons on her maroon pants.

She reports quickly and succinctly to the Hokage, who listens to the report of the mission and then sends her on her merry way. Before she reaches the door, though, the Hokage calls out for her. "Tenten?" she asks, and the brunette turns and cocks her head, signaling that she is listening. "How in the world do you keep your clothing so clean?" the older woman sighs in envy as she frowns ever so slightly.

Tenten's brow furrows, for she doesn't expect this. After all, her entire outfit isn't clean. Her pants are no longer soft cotton, but crusty with dried blood. With every step, her feet smash against the old blood in her shoes. And were her gloves not black, they would be stained the darkest brown-red of old blood by now. Regardless, she grins at her idol. "Oh, it must just be easier for a long-range fighter, Tsunade-sama," she says cheerfully before she bows and heads out of the door. Let them think that she's immaculate.


	6. Her Dreamland

AN: So, I'm back from virus-induced isolation. XD Nice to write to you guys again. Sorry for all the angst in a row. I'll do my best to make the next one-shot more upbeat, but I don't think ninja get many happy moments.

**NUMBER 20: Colorless**

From the moment she opened her eyes, Tenten knew that something was wrong. A small corner of her mind told her that life wasn't normally this colorless, normally wasn't colored exclusively in shades of grey. The rational side of her brain screamed that something was wrong and that she must be dreaming, for she never did perceive colors in her dreams.

It didn't matter, though, what cold logic was telling her. After all, her emotions were going haywire at the scene in front of her eyes. Nothing, not even many years of kunoichi training, would prepare her for the view she was provided with.

The city of Konoha was desolate in front of her, destroyed. Bodies were strewn everywhere, limbs disconnected from trunks, heads separate from necks, random appendages everywhere. A hand, slick with what could only be blood, latched onto her ankle, and she sprang backward, scrambling for weapons she didn't carry. Tenten looked down into her captor's dark grey eyes, but she didn't need color to recognize Tsunade. "Run!" the woman gasped. "You've got no hope by yourself. Go, go to--" she broke off and coughed up viscous liquid. "Suna," she gasped. "Bring help."

She began to run, deciding it was best to heed her idol. However, a flash in the corner of her eye caught her attention. A figure stood, swaying but still obviously alive, and he supported someone else. Tenten gasped. "Lee! Neji!" she cried. She ran towards them, all thoughts of Suna flown from her mind. As she almost got to them, she was jerked back roughly by strong arms.

Dropping to her knees, she threw her assailant over her shoulder. It was, judging by the shape, a man, cloaked in deepest black. A punch to her back by a second person knocked all the air from her lungs, and she trips forward, sputtering and coughing. However, she was prepared for the next blow. She tilted her head to the side and spun, snapping a foot up and around.

Although Tenten was most proficient with projectile weapons, she had learned a few tricks to hand-to-hand combat. Roughly, putting her anger into it, she slammed a gloved fist into his throat, and he clutched his collapsed windpipe and fell down, pathetically trying to gasp in breath. The first attacker, who grabbed her, was on his feet and charging at her, but she ducked underneath his swing and kicked her leg out, sending him face first into the ground.

He rolled forward and swings his body forward before pulling out a cruel-looking scimitar. Growling inhumanly, he rushed toward her and scored a long slash on her left arm. She judged his movements and watched the blade, and with a courage she wasn't sure was wise, snaked out her left hand to seize the blade with her left hand.

Carefully, determinedly, she wrestled the blade away from him. She was more skilled with it than he, and she managed to drive the weapon deep into his intestines. Before she could twist and retrieve the blade, though, she sensed two others near her. Turning quickly, she saw two men, clothed similarly to the first two. She heard more footfalls behind her, but she couldn't turn her back to those in front of her.

She charged forward, diving under the blows of the men. Neji and Lee were still in the same spot, but surrounded. A blade cut cleanly through the tendons behind her right knee, and her legs buckled as she cried out as she fell. Four men advanced upon her, and she rolled backward, grabbing a kunai from the nearest corpse. She flung her weapon carefully, judging the shot, and it struck one of the men square in the chest.

The three remaining men were angry then, and she couldn't stand to escape, but she wouldn't go down crying, so she fished more kunai out of the dead warrior's pockets. Two more men were felled by her projectiles, but before she realized someone was behind her, her hands have been grabbed harshly and forced behind her back. "Shall we kill her?" a deep, piercing voice asked, cutting through her mind and paralyzing her thoughts.

A snicker was heard. "She made us watch our comrades perish. Shall there not be an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth? Bring the boys!" a new voice commanded cruelly. Tenten screamed out, fighting to get out of the grip on her arms, trying to save Neji and Lee, but it was to no avail, and her teammates were brought to stand in front of her.

Neji was coldly still, anger radiating off of every part of his body, and Lee struggled valiantly. The man who held her captive forced her to watch as Neji's body was dissembled, part by part. First the toes, then the feet. Next, the fingers and the hands. On it continued until Neji collapsed, his face almost pure white in contrast to the dark grey of the blood on his garments. His chest rose and fell once more, but then its movement ceased. At the same time, Lee had been receiving the same treatment. Not surprisingly, he lasted a fraction longer than Neji, but in the end he, too, succumbed to the loss of blood.

Tenten screamed loudly throughout the whole process, flailing wildly as she tried to get to her friends. As soon as they had died, he vision faded to a pure back.

She shot upright in her bed, screaming shrilly. Once she had gathered the courage, she opened her eyes. Compared to her colorless dream, even the bland apartment room she slept in seemed saturated in colors. Her left arm was unscarred; her right leg felt fine.

Regardless, she rolled over and threw up all over her floor, the dinner she had last night splattering over the floorboards. It took the last of her energy to force herself into a sitting position. Tears began to stream thickly from her eyes, not subsiding no matter what she tried to do to stem their violent flow.

More than anything, Tenten wanted to run out of her apartment, to Neji's manor or Lee's similarly sized apartment. As foolish as it was, she wished to see them still alive, still intact. No such luck, though. Not only would they think her childish for trying to do so, but it simply wasn't permitted for a ninja like her. Being a kunoichi meant that you bore fright and unhappiness with solid determination and a thorough lack of emotions.

So she cried alone in her room that night, refusing to shut her eyes for fear of the visions that sprang up behind her eyelids.


	7. Hidden Dragon

AN: No gore or death for once! A little bit of introspection on what I think many people neglect to think of when they write about Future!Naruto-plot fics.

**NUMBER 18: black**

"I'm sorry, but I don't believe I heard you correctly, commander," Tenten said, her voice blank and calm as the dragon mask covering her face. However, inside she was in turmoil, and her hands were already straying to play with the hem of her black ANBU-issued shirt.; she certainly couldn't have heard correctly. It was a mistake, definitely.

The man in front of her issued an almost inaudible sigh. "Having presided over the ANBU tests, I have decided that you will be placed on an squad with ANBU Tiger Rock Lee and ANBU Eagle Hyuuga Neji. You are to act as the team leader, a fact that I have relayed to them, and also a fact that they took much better than yourself," he told her, his voice just a bit disgruntled.

Tenten bit her lips and tried not to fidget. She didn't want to be seen as insubordinate by asking for clarification, but she didn't understand why she was to lead Lee and Neji. Everyone had rightfully assumed that if their small team passed that Neji would assume command of the squad. He was the genius of the genius clan, able to tackle any problem that occurred. If not Neji, then Lee was still more fit than herself, at least in her opinion. He was the one who was always ready and prepared, the one who wouldn't give up, ever. What was she when compared to them? "I would like to know your reasoning behind the decision if I may, commander."

The man shook his head. "Your subordinates--" she almost flinched at the word "–had warned me you might question, but I had not believed them. I am unsure of why you don't realize the reasons. Eagle is sometimes driven by anger. He allows unfit rage to cloud his judgement every once in a while, and while it is not too often, it still happens. Tiger is too eager, too excitable. A team leader needs to have a cool head in every situation. Also, the two of them tend to try too hard to outshine each other. A leader needs to be impartial and unbiased towards his or her subordinates. Finally, you show keen perception and understanding. You will always notice things that others do not, and therefore you know how to perform accordingly."

It took her a moment to digest all that information. The people presiding over the ANBU tests, strong ninja chosen throughout the land for their fairness, thought she was the most fit to lead? Not genius Neji nor hardworking Lee, but her? She nodded to her commander. "I will take my leave then, commander," Tenten said. In a poof of smoke, she was out of the room and out on the street in front of the building she'd just left. For a half of a second, she considered squealing in happiness and joy. That wouldn't be befitting of a ANBU squad leader, though, would it? She didn't want to desecrate the uniform and mask by doing such a childish action.

She could squeal girlishly when she was back in her apartment, she decided as she began to go home. If Gai didn't find her and drag her off to celebrate with Neji and Lee, that was. She grimaced at the notion. There was a thought more frightening than ANBU missions. Someone had better warn the owners of the local bars.


	8. Let Slip the Dogs of War

**AN: More present tense, which may bother some of you. I apologize, but it's what I write best in, usually. Also, I think this needed a sense of urgency that past tense simply never provides. Besides, I always have to use present tense for essays in school, so why not practice? :) Happy reading.**

**On a completely unrelated note, it's my birthday, so birthday cupcakes are welcomed in the comments. XD**

"_Cry havoc, and let slip the dogs of war."_

It's dark outside, and she's been running and fighting and killing for the past week. So many people Tenten knows have already died, and she's learned that time doesn't stop, doesn't even slow down for the fallen. It's a daunting fact, but it's all for the best because she doesn't have time to mourn familiar faces, anyway. The havoc and madness are all pressing in, but she simply doesn't let the weight suffocate her.

Some shrink from war, run away like they can't handle it, run away because they can't handle it. They huddle, shrinking, in their little corners and pretend that if they're silent, no one will be able to spot them, and they'll sacrifice anything short of their first-born child (and sometimes they sacrifice even that) to supplicate the angel of death to pass over their house. In peace time, they may be the most brave of people, but there's something about war that cuts their fortitude.

Tenten is different. War strengthens her, brings her up to new levels with a war-cry on her lips and blades in her hands. Life goes on in double-time, bombs exploding her peripheral vision and blood soaking all of her clothes that dark crimson red. She used to be strong enough, good but not completely remarkable in anything but her aim, but in the light of war she is a beacon.

Now she shines because now she has something to fight for. Before, all that she fought or killed for was a mission, sometimes just for practice. And now it is time to fight to protect and save, and primordial instincts have taken; she has been made into the dragon always lain dormant in the depths of her soul. Now Tenten fights to save her home and the people dearest to her, and she fights to save her self, and she fights to save everything she has ever known and loved.

What choice has she but to rise rise rise above the death to view disaster with a steady eye to scatter destruction on all that which threatens her livelihood?


	9. On Removing Stains

AN: Aaaaaangst. The other three have a glint of perfection about them, and they're so pretty. Someone needs to be around to do real work. :) Not that I don't love them all.

**NUMBER 17: brown **

She's just mud under their feet. The stick they use to smash a particularly gross bug, one they wouldn't chance touching with their pale pink fingers. Someone come with a broom and get this, this thing out of here, please, before she contaminates us all. So so so dirty. Get it out.

(They won't risk their golden girl on this mission because blood is too much of a contrast on pale blonde hair.

They won't risk their bejeweled girl on this mission because dirt dulls the shine of emeralds and rose quartz.

They won't risk their girl of ivory on this mission because knife marks mar the perfection of smooth soft skin.

But they'll risk their mud-girl.)

Someone come with a broom.

Get this thing out of here.

She'll contaminate us.

Send her away already, and maybe she'll die this time.

(Everyone needs a scapegoat.)

Why won't the mud stains come out of the damn carpet already?

(Gold is lost over time, the wealth spread from hand to hand and dropped on the streets and lost. Jewels loose their luster, chips flying away as the cutter heedlessly cuts them away to force out perfection that is not absolute. Ivory dims and chips, loses its appeal to quickly. And dirt will always be, always holds on, incessant.)


	10. Two Birds with One Stone

**NUMBER 16: purple**

The kimono Tenten was wearing was deep purple and flowed to the floor to gather in graceful pools there. Her long brown hair had been tortured into one of the intricate styles of the full-fledged geisha, and makeup had been meticulously applied to pretty but average features. Upon looking into the floor-length mirror, she grinned at the borrowed beauty reflected back at her.

It was one of the less common missions a female had to endure; a mission where a touch of sex appeal was necessary but the type where grace and charm were paramount. Her mission was to disguise herself as a quite well-known geisha and to commit a very public, loud, and messy murder. In doing so, she would figuratively kill two birds with one stone. The geisha, who was actually a missing ninja quite skilled in the arts of poison and disliked by most of the town, would be put under the death sentence and searched by hunter-nin. The man who she would murder, a rich lord who raped several women but was never convicted, would be dead, obviously.

Tenten groaned quietly as she applied the makeup she would need. As easy as the mission had seemed at first glance, she herself knew that there were risks. The real geisha, Sukiko, could show up and blow her cover. Sure, Tsunade had caused her to be sent to a man several miles away, but it was a gamble, like everything else Tsunade did. The rapist, a man called Hikaru, could attack back and prove more of a challenge than suspected, even if she took him by surprise. Also, even if the main plan went well, there was a tiny chance Sukiko wouldn't be acquitted of the murder.

However, Tenten had taken extra steps to ensure that Sukiko wouldn't slip away. The white gloves that particular geisha was so well known for were on her fingers, her hair was so affixed with potions and jutsus and sprays that not a single strand would fall and betray her identity, and her clothing was a piece from Sukiko's own wardrobe. She had dimmed her chakra signature so it looked less like a ninja's, and every other possible care had be taken. A truly exhausting process had been underwent by the kunoichi.

"And chances are it'll still mess up," the brunette grumbled as she cast one more look into the mirror. As much as she looked the spitting image of Sukiko, that didn't change the success prediction of the mission with all aspects executed flawlessly; there was a measly 27% chance she'd have complete success. Damn it all, she thought, she aimed for perfection. And perfection she would have.

A few hours later, she was finishing up pouring Hikaru's fourth saucer of sake, her movements fluid, graceful, and somewhat alluring. Music was being played by another one of the women, who constantly stole glances at Hikaru as if she expected he would hurt her in the open. No, for a dirty, despicable scrap of humanity, he was at least wise enough not to employ such tactics.

Instead, he settled for flirting heavily with her. Once or twice his movements were inappropriate, but Tenten, acting only as Sukiko would, had to allow him to touch her. A bad taste lingered in her mouth; no respectable geisha would allow herself to be touched so by a client, but in Tenten's research, she'd gathered that Sukiko thrived in the attention the male clients paid to her. It took all of Tenten's willpower not to sneer in distaste.

The kunoichi continued to pour saucers of sake at such a rate that it took only a few more minutes for Hikaru to rise, smile genially to his guests and the other geisha, and politely excuse himself, asking Tenten to accompany him to the restroom. He was a bit tipsy, so she steadied him with her hand on his arm. Inside of her head, she was calculating. She'd discovered that one of the maids always walked this hallway at the same time. Before long, she'd come along. She, Tenten decided, would have to see her killing Hikaru. If he yelled, all the better; more witnesses meant less of a chance for the real Sukiko.

A door began to slide open, and Tenten grabbed the long, sharp, tanto–a prettily decorated thing that was exactly in the style of a geisha–and held it at the ready. At the last moment, she sprang forward. Hikaru yelled as Tenten clung to his back, and he swatted at her. Footsteps came quickly, guests probably running to see what was happening. The maid stood in the doorway, watching with an incredulous look on her face as Tenten sliced through Hikaru's throat.

His body fell onto the tatami mats, and she plunged the knife into his heart, just to make sure. Blood drained and the man writhed as the guests came to the door and watched, horror-struck. A woman's shriek, and the other geisha fainted. For everyone else, time was probably moving in slow motion, but for Tenten, nothing had changed. It was just a few more drops of blood on her conscience, a ruined kimono, and a couple of tatami mats that would need to be replaced.

One, two, three seconds. Enough time had gone by for each person to witness and fully comprehend what they thought they saw. Without further ado, Tenten began at a dead sprint out of the house, going by one of the less-used paths to a hidden door. All was silent behind her for a few moments, and then she heard rapid footsteps as someone ran after her. She chuckled darkly; let them try chasing her. She raced against _Rock Lee_.

Once she was far enough away, she found a small lake and washed her face, destroying all traces of the makeup. A few simple jutsus and a couple of hair ties got her brown locks into their customary buns, and she pulled her spare set of clothes out of her obi and destroyed the ruined kimono with a fire jutsu. It was a pity; the garment was lovely. Then she made her way home.

A little less than a week later, Tsunade summoned her to her office. When she came in, her idol was glancing at a newspaper. "A well-known geisha, Sukiko, was convicted of the murder of Ito Hikaru and executed yesterday," Tsunade informed the younger kunoichi. "What do you take of that news, Tenten?"

"The girl was incredibly foolish to attack such a well-known lord where people could see her, don't you think, Tsunade-sama?"

The long, sharp, tanto–a prettily decorated thing that was exactly in the style of a geisha–is tucked into her pants for training later today.


	11. Big Girls Don't Cry

AN: Wow, sorry for the depressiveness. Guess this is what happens when I'm feeling sad and have Eminem's 'When I'm Gone' on repeat. I can imagine even Tenten, who seems extraordinarily strong, to have her moments when she's sad, just like any other person, especially when something happens to someone close to her.

**NUMBER 14: green**

She wore green on the day of her sensei's funeral. And yes, she saw the irony in this. The color of rebirth. It wasn't supposed to be the color she would wear on the day she honored the man who had taught her so much. And when Tenten didn't want to see a single shade of green one more time, her own outfit mocked her spitefully, painfully.

It had been Lee's idea to wear green, actually. He had pulled Neji and her aside, his voice urgent and choked, demanded that they wear green in honor of their sensei. Because it was his color. Because Gai would never want to see his students in black for his sake alone. Because it was the color of hope and growth, never sadness.

Empty words, all of them. She let out a keening scream, rage and sorrow and pain all rolled together, thrashing inside of the cry as she threw a kunai so hard into the target it split down the middle and the halves fell to the ground. The ceremony had just finished a few minutes ago, and she had been trying to clear her head.

She'd kept face throughout the entire time when they'd carved his name deep into the memorial stone. _Maito Gai_ carved deep into the stone because they couldn't find his body, because they'd never put an effort into finding it because he wasn't Hyuuga or Yamanaka or Uchiha. And then she'd broken, afterwards, all alone in the training grounds.

The green of the grass mocked her, laughing at her pain and her anger. Saying that there would be no second birth. It was silly, it was so damn _foolish_ of her, but in the back of her mind her mind reeled in injustice and anger. What right had the grass to be green? What right had she to be wearing green? It was his color. Now that he was dead, the color should have been wiped from the very universe, sparing her painful reminder.

A gut-wrenching realization hit her suddenly and painfully–most of the other ninja in Konoha would be going back to their normal lives. Because Maito Gai had spent too much time with his students and his profession for others to realize the person he was. This thought drove Tenten to her knees, and she dug a kunai roughly into the ground, ripping up the turf in front of her. So goddamn selfless he wouldn't be remembered because he spent all of his time trying to better the world for people who'd forget his name in the next week.

The tears she'd been holding back since the day when she'd learned of his death spilled over her lower lashes and flooded down her cheeks in tiny rivers. Shameful, shameful, shameful, and Gai-sensei wouldn't have even wanted her tears. She knew he was probably looking down at her and shaking his head at her because all the tears he'd ever shed were tears of happiness.

This thought didn't stave off the sob that bubbled up from her chest, catching painfully in her throat before ripping through her lips. "Sorry," she whispered. "I'm sorry, Gai-sensei. You wouldn't want me to grieve," she quietly said, seeking forgiveness from the soft sigh of the wind and the trees. But she couldn't stop the tears, wouldn't stop them.

"He wouldn't understand," a soft, regretful voice came from behind. A soft gasp sounded from Tenten, and she twisted her head to glimpse the familiar figure of Konoha's Copy Ninja. She knew she should try to stop the flow of tears and save some face, but she couldn't bring herself to do so. Instead, she stared numbly at the man who had been Gai-sensei's eternal rival. "He wouldn't understand, but he'd never be ashamed of you."

The older man swept a hand through his white hair and sighed. "Nothing any of you three did could ever upset him. Even when you all lost your first Chuunin exam, he only had good to say of each of you. He was never disappointed or ashamed, never upset with you three. He wouldn't want you to be sad. He wouldn't, but... he would never have been upset with you."

For a few minutes, they paused in silence, the world moving around them as their memories threatened to overwhelm once more. The harsh sobs from Tenten calmed to softer noises, each one quieter than the one before. "He d-... he died the way he would have wanted to,"she said, half to herself. "He would have never wanted to die like a civilian, in his sleep." Her sensei had died doing what he loved, protecting the village he had loved, and more than that, the people that he had cared so deeply for.

"A death so others could grow, could keep on hoping. He would have thought it a very good trade indeed," Kakashi said, nodding solemnly. "Do you see now why you wear green?" he asked, a soft smile in his voice.

Another tear rolled down her cheek, but she was finally able to unclench her hands and to allow a tiny smile to creep onto her face. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew Gai-sensei chuckled his approval. And as Kakashi walked away from her, she realized that he, too, was dressed only in green.


	12. Kiss Me, Kate

AN: Yet again, thank you for reading. It's much appreciated. And yeah, I really need to get off of this present-tense writing kick I'm on. XD Next one-shot, I promise.

**NUMBER 16: orange**

Although her eyes, dark hazel surrounded by a coat of champagne-colored shadow, catch a good deal of the attention of strangers, they are not her prettiest feature. Nor is her hair, which is pulled into a single bun at the back of her head with shining wisps falling about her face. Her loveliest feature is her mouth. Soft, full lips are painted a delicate pink, slicked with gloss, and parted slightly as air passes comfortably through them.

And for the umpteenth time this evening, she reminds herself not to lick her lips. It is of reflex that she almost touches her tongue to those perfect lips, but it is of training and practice that she manages not to. To be a woman, to be a spy and assassin, is steal from yourself the most normal of habits–all for the sake of the mission, of course. For Konoha. What could be more important than that?

She tries and tries again to remind herself that the mission is the most important thing, not her discomfort. But why couldn't Ino, who excels in such things, have taken this mission? Tenten knows it was not her place to question, but her job isn't this, not when she can kill people ten at a time, dancing death and destruction to anyone nearby. Not when she can fight men far stronger than her target. So why the pomp and circumstance? The end result will be the same whether she slaughters him in a dark alley or seduces him (literally) to his death.

Groaning quietly, Tenten adjusts her dress, a western creation with a tighter fit at the bust and a flowing skirt that falls to the ground, much different from a traditional kimono. Still, it is nice enough, and it's in a bold orange she doesn't totally despise. The shoes, though, are horrible, and she found herself vaguely wondering if she could stomp a hole in someone's foot with the heels. Probably.

Finally her target sees her and approaches. She decides he's a rather plain-looking man, completely dull about the eyes, and a bit too old for her tastes. Still, she puts on a charming smile as he approaches her. "Excuse me, miss, for I certainly don't remember meeting you before. Please humor a man's poor memory. I am Fujima Kenta, and you are...?" he asks, his voice slick as an oil spill on the ocean, and as destructive as one, too. Tenten remembers the mission information, which had informed her of how his golden tongue had gotten many of his business competitors killed.

"I am Suzuki Natsumi, Fujima-sama," she says as she bows. When she straightens, her neck is still bent very slightly, and she looks up at him though dark eyelashes. "Do you generally extend party invitations to women whom you do not know?" she teases, a small smile on her face.

The man shakes his head. "No, of course not. Except when they're as beautiful as you are." Oh, God. What a lame, uncreative pickup line. Somewhere in the back of her mind, the notion of kicking him in the groin and then bashing his head in sounds pleasant, but she quashes the though. Delicacy, Tenten, delicacy, her sensible side reminds her in a wry voice that is really too similar to Neji's.

Konoha better damn well appreciate her compliance with this _idiotic_ mission. Mechanically, Tenten attempts to conjure up a blush. "You're too kind, Fujima-sama," she simpers. Which is a complete lie, but he seems to just eat it up.

"And you are sweet, Natsumi," he tells her, his eyes peering lecherously down into hers. Oh, they were on a first-name basis? Tenten thinks tartly, bowing her head to hide the annoyed look painted across her features. "Would you like to come to my gardens with me?" he asks pleasantly.

Any girl who is stupid enough to follow a man alone into a secluded spot should have a good deal of sense slapped into her, Tenten thinks as she nods her head. "That would be very nice, Fujima-sama," she says and follows him across a stone path to a vast garden filled with flowers of every variety.

It's sad, almost, she thinks as she looks around. That such a man has such an eye for beauty. Her musings, though, are interrupted with a clock chiming out the hour. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Fujima-sama, but I promised that I would be home before eleven, and now I'm late! I have to go or my mother will be terribly worried," she said sadly, her eyes growing in her face. Quickly, she darts forward and captures the old man's lips with her own.

They're cold and slimy, and vaguely she wonders if kissing a fish would be the same or worse.

Quick as she kissed him, she pulls away and gathers up her dress. "I'm sorry, Fujima-sama! I hope we may meet again," Tenten lies as she runs off, away from the party and away from the lecherous old man.

As she hurries back to the Hokage tower to give her mission report, the tale of Cinderella flashes through her mind, and she bites back an ironic smile. Cinderella, who charmed the prince, accidentally left a shoe behind with which he could discover her.

And all Tenten left behind was the poison from her lip gloss, now smeared on Fujima Kenta's lips.

Unless he washed his lips and treated them with the antidote, he'd die in about three days of what appeared to be a heart attack. Too bad. Tenten smirks secretly, pleased at such an easy success. "Guess you shouldn't go around killing off people and kissing every girl you see," she murmurs to herself as she stops in front of Tsunade's door and gives a few raps to the hard wood in front of her.


	13. Color of the Sky

AN: Found out why I can't usually write during the school semester: my muse is about as nocturnal as I wish I could be. Give me a computer at 2 am and it all works out. XD

**NUMBER 15: blue**

Back when she was a little girl, naive and innocent and bright-eyed, she wore the dreamy blue of cloudless skies. And she accepted that she wasn't born into a strong clan, like the Uchiha or the Hyuuga or even the Yamanaka or Inuzuka; she knew she wasn't any sort of genius, wasn't a prodigy; she knew she wasn't even stunningly beautiful. After all, even when she was little, Tenten liked fortune-telling, and she knew you got the Tarot cards you were dealt, even if they weren't the so-called best.

No matter what she wasn't, though, Tenten knew she wanted to become something. Wanted to become something poignant (the word stumbled over her lips and she hardly knew what it meant, but her heart soared like a butterfly caught on an updraft when she even thought it).

...

Tenten grew older, and she traded the dreamy sky blues of her childhood for more sensible navies (although she favored reds and whites, some missions demanded night camouflage) and dark blues. She pulled a kunai out of the neck of some man whose name she'd forgotten and smeared the blood off onto the canvas of her midnight blue. The deep red she'd smeared on was immediately indistinguishable from the rest of the grime, and she frowned deeply.

Yeah, she was something real poignant (now she could pronounce the word and define it, and when she heard it, her heart gave a half-hearted spasm like the wings of a half-drowned moth), she thought acridly. A ninja on good days. A murderer on those days she was feeling scared and alone.

Some days she helped people. Killed criminals, fought off villainous maniacs (Orochimaru and his gang, plus Akatsuki), protected wealthy ladies from highway bandits and such. Some days she was just a butcher. Another kunai in another man's neck; another wife who'd be distraught when her husband never came home; another bribe taken.

If she'd wanted to be poignant (flutter, flop, spasm, soar) she should have just become another Naruto and preached love and peace and joy and butterflies or whatever that boy said that made people love him so much.

Instead, she became a savior on good days, a butcher on the days she felt nothing, a murderer on the days she just wanted to bury herself and die.

But on her worst days, she could see the little things that meant so much to her: Gai loudly encouraged her and Lee talked to her (at her) as they ran laps and Neji gave that small smile of recognition.

So she wasn't poignant, maybe, but what did children know?  
She had her team, and she had plenty of friends, and her idol gave her a smile when they passed. And she could fly.

In hindsight, it was all worth it.

And hindsight is twenty-twenty.


	14. Up Close & Personal

AN: I don't have much to say... Hi. :)

**NUMBER 13: yellow**

Tenten woke up to quite possibly the most excruciating pain she'd ever felt in the first 13 years of her life. Her back felt like it'd been broken in half. And then the shame kicked in, and she lets out a rather impressive string of swear words-all learned from hanging around the ANBU offices a little too often, perhaps.

"Now, my delicate flower, is that language a young woman should be using?" a booming voice from beside her bed chuckled. Tenten uttered something of a mix between a screech and a yelp and jumped so high she almost fell off of the hospital bed and onto her yellow-hospital-gown-clad ass. Gai chuckled again, and the young kunoichi felt her face burn about twenty-three different shades of crimson. A ninja was prepared for everything.

Riiight.

After she took a breath to steady herself, Tenten faced her sensei's face, which was caught somewhere between amusement and concern. "Uh. Gai-sensei, could you give me a warning next time?" she asked crossly, her voice quite croaky from too much sleep and not enough use. His smile widened almost imperceptibly, and she scowled at him, undeterred.

He tossed her a bottle of something-pills, she realized by the rattling noise it made-and then settled himself back into his chair. "I wasn't quite expecting you to wake up, to tell you the truth! It's a testament to your blossoming stamina that you're getting better so quickly!" her sensei exhorted as she dry-swallowed a few of the pills. Her blossoming stamina, of course, Tenten thought. She only just managed to cough in time to cover up the huge snort of laughter.

Which maybe was not the best tactic, she thought as Gai hits her on the back. Hard. "Ow!" she cried out sharply. This utterance resulted in him recoiling and then fussing over her like some sort of fashion-challenged mother hen. As amused as she was by this quick change, she cut in through his worries. "I'll be fine, Sensei. Was there any reason you came to see me for, or were you just checking in?" Tenten questioned, her eyes widening in mild fear when she noticed his widen in excitement.

"Actually, I had been hoping that today would be the day you would awaken so I could speak with you about something of utmost importance! Yes, Tenten," he said, his voice dropping to what she was sure he considered a reasonable volume-a few decibels down from a jackhammer, "you and I need to have A Talk." She could honestly hear the capitalization. Suddenly, she blanched. Oh, God. Hopefully he didn't mean that type of talk. Oh, God.

"N-no, Gai-sensei, it's okay, I-I'll talk to someone else, I d-don't want to take your precious time," she managed to stutter out urgently. Apparently today was her day to channel Hinata.

He stood up and actually gave her the Nice Guy pose. Thumbs up, teeth sparkling, and all. "Nonsense! You're my student, and so I have the responsibility of instructing you! You see, I have never revealed it to you or your youthful comrades, but I, in fact, have some knowledge of weapons. In fact, there is even one I have gained mastery over!" Oh. Weapons. Well, that was a relief, Tenten thought as she slumped down, exhausted from her panic.

She was curious, though. "What's that?" the kunoichi asked, her eyes slightly wide as she watched her sensei.

From somewhere within the depths of the dread spandex, Gai produced two sections of wood, each resembling a short baton, connected by a short metal chain. "Nunchucks!" he announced, as proud as a young child who had just hit his first bulls-eye with the kunai.

"I know what they are," Tenten said, her tone slightly defensive. Well, she was the weapons expert, she reasoned, so it was justified. "I've just never really used them. I'm not very good at them," the girl explained, abashed. Some weapons expert.

Gai just smiled brightly. "Take these, then. When your youthful vigor has restored enough to warrant your return to our practice fields, I'll assist your learning the art of the nunchucks!" He handed her the weapon, which felt comfortable and familiar in her hand. "Twirl it around, if you find yourself with some free time. Work to accustom yourself to the weapon!" he urged, and she nodded, a smile playing on her lips. "Tenten?" he asked.

Her eyebrows raised, she looked over to him. "Yeah?"

"You are strong in your magnificent ranged weaponry attacks, but against an opponent who is skilled in long-range defense, long-range offense will not work well." Tenten put her head down, ashamed. His hand forced her chin up with gentleness she would not attribute to the boisterous man. "You must expand your arsenal! I will assist you with this." Suddenly, he reached over and ruffled her hair. "Recover quickly so that you may blossom and brighten our training grounds soon! It is dull without you and Lee around," he said, his voice conspiring.


	15. Flight and Falling

**AN: **It's been a while. I apologize. I'm working on a multi-chaptered fic that can't be put up until after the 31st.

**NUMBER 96: writer's choice (up)**

She lives for the feeling of air rushing around her as she flies, soars, glides. Freewheeling, she dances around the breezes and above the clouds. The sun kisses her tan skin, and her eyes close to spare her the harshness of the glinting light. Cold raises goose bumps on her skin. And her heart flutters and comes near to beating out of her chest.

Nothing on the ground can even compare.

Not that she's thinking of the ground right now. Somewhere in a hidden corner of her mind, she knows the stinging truth: eventually, she will have to come down, to let her feet touch terra firma. Right now, though, she could hardly care less. There's only the euphoria of the moment, and right now she is _flying_.

What comes up? She knows it must also come down. That's the law of gravity. Not even a ninja can overcome physics for their entire life. And so she accepts that she must come down eventually, back to the warm earth, where sensations are muted and lethargic. This knowledge allows her to revel in her temporary liberation and savor it even as she falls.

What comes down? Well, that can go back up. A little bit of kinetic energy, and there you go. With chakra and leg strength and will power, she buys herself a few minutes in heaven.

_Libero. Liberata sum. _

I free. I am set free.


	16. Stairway to Heaven

**AN:** I suck. Yes, I'm aware of this. I can't believe it's been so long. Well, since the last one was about Tenten flying, how about one that explains how she got there? I found this one in my documents, and I realized I hadn't put it up yet, although I wrote it a while ago. Silly me. =)

EDIT: Actually, I have put it up, in a different drabble series. It fits better here. =/ So that's where it's going.

**NUMBER 34: not enough**

Every time Tenten attempted the Soshoryu, it was like tripping, stumbling over her feet twenty feet in the air. And there were furloughs in the ground as proof of her failures.

Just one tiny slip-up, and there she went, skidding face-first through the dirt. Neji would stare disapprovingly and Lee would make quasi-comforting remarks about his own failures in the past and how he'd overcome them, and Gai would try to steer her towards a different technique.

One that she wouldn't fail at consistently, she thought bitterly as she spat out dirt.

It didn't matter, though. Anything different would never be good enough. She'd tasted the first bit of flight, but one taste wasn't enough. It was a drug, the euphoria of flight, and she needed her fix. One taste of heaven wasn't enough. It would just take a little bit more. More chakra, more speed, more rotation, more jump, more, more, more. More falling, more stumbling, more tripping.

And the taste of dirt was becoming quite familiar, as were the bruises and scrapes across her skin. It was becoming a vicious cycle: get up, fall, repeat. Get your hopes up, reach for heaven, and crash and burn once more.

It could have been so easy to just stay on the ground, to become a strong kunoichi without the technique. There were others she could learn. But even as her fingernails clawed at the earth beneath her, the blue skies beckoned to her, white clouds begging for her to touch them. And the stories of the dragons of her homeland summoned her, promising to bear her up on wings of smoke and paper. So she summoned the courage to once more spring into the air, her scrolls in her hand and a determined gleam in her eyes.

One day, before she knew what was happening, she shot up to the heavens, dancing amid her scrolls. From there, it was like she could see the world, the familiar training grounds metamorphosed into some sort of beautiful tapestry as they splayed out under her feet. Detached, moving as if in a dream, she directed a chain or steel at the training dummies surrounding her takeoff point, hitting her marks with the accuracy she was becoming renowned for.

As her feet touched lightly upon the ground, her scrolls fanning, spent, around her body, exhilaration rushed through her, and she grinned brightly in triumph, laughing in exultation. What did it matter if she tripped up the stairs to heaven if she could finally dance in the skies?


	17. Not Alive If I'm Lonely

AN: Whoa. I'm alive. =)

**NUMBER 4: insides**

The cold floor of the arena was damp, and the moisture seeped through my shirt, chilling the scarred and torn skin of my back. Blood trickled down my throat, and I couldn't help but think that was it. Game over. I lost. He won.

I'd have another chance, next time the exams come around. Six months, that was all I'd have to wait, and then I'd be able to have another chance. Not to make Chuunin that year... it wouldn't be that big of a deal. I could have just said I was done, given up, and a medic would have come and healed me and my cuts and bruises and the place in my left wrist where I could feel the bone splinters pushing against my skin.

Somewhere up in the stands, Lee was screaming wildly; I could hear it over the entire cacophony. Gai's bass voice echoed Lee's, provided support. I couldn't hear Neji, but really, I definitely didn't expect to. He hadn't said a word during Lee's match, though the handrail he'd gripped would never be the same again. He was probably just as worried through my match. Silly boys. My silly, silly, silly boys. Didn't they understand it was over?

Lee had decimated his opponent today, easily securing his promotion. And Neji, Neji the genius, had been the only one of my team to become Chuunin on his second try, only six months after the disaster at Konoha. Lee and I had been on our third try. He was already successful; I wouldn't be.

I could just hope they wouldn't get too far ahead of me while I struggled to catch up.

As I relaxed my muscles and the edges of unconsciousness closed out my waking thoughts, something tugged at the edges of my consciousness, pushing away the darkness. From the inside of my waking thoughts, memories streamed in a single line, one flashing past another. How they'd all worked so hard before their second exam, and only Neji had made it. The celebration dinner after his promotion, and how I'd found Lee weeping bitterly. The training sessions I shared with Lee, in which they both pushed forth with determination fueled by desperation. When I still practiced in the mornings with Neji, and he would be relentless to the point of cruelty, but all for my benefit. Those times when Gai pulled me aside and patiently taught me the nuances of fighting with the nunchaku.

Those memories tugged on the insides of my waking self, pushing back the dark curtain of unconsciousness, telling me what I'd known, somewhere, all along: I couldn't give up now.

Lee shouted something about my Springtime of Youth, and I pushed myself to my feet, pushing the bloody mess of hair out of my eyes. "Go Tenten! Goooo!" he screamed torrentially, his voice bordering on hysterical, and I couldn't keep the wry grin off of my face. My opponent looked a little alarmed. I must've looked like I was done for, but he should have done a better job.

Adding a little bit of chakra to my feet, I pushed off the floor explosively and sprinted toward him, brandishing a kunai. It was nothing special, but I didn't want to waste time summoning something more threatening. I was going for the element of surprise, and it certainly seemed to be working. He wasn't even trying to defend himself. Sloppy. How was he even a Genin? How had he even gained such an advantage over me?

They say, when you're a kunoichi, that underestimation is key. The point is to get your opponent to underestimate you, and then you're_ there_. You have your opening. Underestimation goes both ways, though, can work against you until you're the one sprawled on the ground.

Maybe I'd been underestimating myself for too long.

Training for days and weeks and months and years with Neji, Lee, and Gai meant that I wasn't a weakling and that I certainly wasn't a quitter, no matter what kind of pain I was going through, no matter how easy it would be to give up. I think I'd forgotten it for a while, but those memories, streaming through the insides of my consciousness in a single-file line, made me remember who I was, who I'd become as a result of _my_ hard work and tenacity.

Just before I was able to bring my kunai to his throat, my opponent snapped out of his trance and settled into a defensive position, blocking my attacking arm with a strong shove of his hand. I couldn't get back for long enough to bring out any of my better weaponry, and there was no chance of me getting far enough away from him to spring a long-distance attack. In a way, I guess it was fitting, that I'd be fighting in the style Lee and Neji had always helped me to improve, the short-range combat that I'd never been so great at but had worked up until I was finally good enough.

Without Lee and Neji, I would have been lost. I think that maybe that one Chuunin exam was the first time I truly was able to acknowledge that. Our team was all give-and-take, and I did my fair share of taking. They might have been lost without me, too, or we all would have been lost without Gai, but I think that might be beside the point; if it had just been me that Chuunin exam, if I'd never had my team, I would've allowed myself to give in too soon, and even if I hadn't, I wouldn't have had the skills necessary to keep going. I owe so much to them.

Somewhere in the back of my head, I think I realized this. I think I realized it as my kunai clashed against the one he'd brought against me, and against my own volition, my left hand snaked under our clashing right arms to deliver a strong punch to the base of his throat, my entire body following through until I was kneeling on his chest, my bloody hair sticking to the sides of my face and my kunai against his throat. Because that certainly wasn't one of my techniques, but one of the many skills I'd managed to glean from the two of them in our hundreds upon thousands of spars. Maybe I deserved some credit, I thought as my opponent yielded and the proctor announced me the winner, Lee's screams crescendoing into a roaring tumult. I had dealt the finishing blow, of course, and while my teammates had helped me develop the technique, I had been the one to deliver it.

Frankly, though, without them, without my memories of them and all of the work they'd done with me, without the threat of them leaving me behind, I would still be lying on the concrete floor of the arena. Sometimes, I'm almost positive that it works the other way around, too; we all inspire each other, but if we were deprived of the support, any one of us–yes, even Neji–would be eating dirt.

As the audience continued to clap and Lee's voice continued to grow louder and louder and Neji almost fell over in relief and Gai laughed boisterously, I smiled beatifically up at the stands. Never again would I lay on the cold ground, contemplating how easy it would be to just give up, to not try my hardest. This was Team Gai's worth. This was my worth.


	18. Que Sera, Sera

AN: Massive spoilers for... a few chapters ago. I'm not sure which ones, exactly. Sorry!

**NUMBER 83: and**

Tenten holds the Bashosen, and everything feels wonderful for a moment.

Like for a moment she might be like Sasuke or Neji or, God, even Sakura. Because for a second it's like she doesn't have to rely on the sheer power of her will and the force of her determination and the razor edges on her steel to become great. There's something else there, a way for her to achieve her dreams, and she can feel her heart soar on the winds the fan creates when she waves it for the very first time.

She's always teetered on the edge of just being good enough, staring across the chasm to where the promised land of greatness lies. There's no denying she's strong and useful and a good kunoichi. Yet it feels like she tries and pushes and strives and she can never grow quite as fast as geniuses like Neji, and the deficit between them just grows larger. Excellence becomes people like him, and she feels like she's wallowing in just-good-enough.

So when she swings it and suddenly _she_ has the power to destroy one of Kazuku's hearts, it's no wonder she suddenly feels as if she's become something great.

And in another ten minutes she's on the ground with the Bashosen somewhere separate from her, feeling like she's about to die and eating the dust and debris of the battlefield, and she can't help but feel a little resentful. Because when Neji figured out the Kaiten, the caged bird seal wasn't activated on him until he could no longer use the technique. Because when Sasuke first learned to activate the Sharingan, no one tore his eyes from their sockets. Because no one tried to keep Tsunade from teaching Sakura.

And sometimes that's just the way things are.


End file.
